Elderly men with higher activity of the hormone IGF-1—or insulin-growth factor 1—appear to have greater life expectancy and reduced cardiovascular risk, according to a new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

A new study from University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC) finds that elderly patients – 75 years old and older-- with malignant brain tumors are not treated as aggressively as patients between 65 and 75 years old. Furthermore, the researchers find that if patients over 75 years old are treated aggressively, such as with surgery and radiation, they have better survival rates.

A greater likelihood of falling may be linked to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in elderly men. Falls are a common source of preventable morbidity in the elderly population and, according to research presented today at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA), elderly men with moderate or severe LUTS are at a significantly greater risk for falls, and the risk dramatically increases as the symptoms worsen.

Those with at least a high school education spend more of their older years without cognitive loss – including the effects of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia -- but die sooner after the loss becomes apparent, reveals a new study appearing in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of Aging and Health.

May is Older Americans Month, a time when the spotlight is on the nation's aging population – a population that includes millions of baby boomers who are preparing to reach retirement age in 2011.

How should you eat as you get older? Which foods are likely to keep you most healthy and which ones should you limit? Is it possible to eat well and stay within a healthy weight? These and other questions are addressed in "Eating Well as You Get Older," the latest topic to be added to NIHSeniorHealth, the health and wellness Web site developed by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Library of Medicine (NLM), both part of the National Institutes of Health.

Older adults with low blood levels of vitamin D and high blood levels of a hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands may have a higher risk of depression, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Elderly patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure who receive implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death live longer than those that do not, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. Further, the health care costs associated with ICDs, while substantial at the time of implantation, do not greatly increase downstream health care costs in this population.

Older men who take loop diuretics, commonly prescribed drugs for heart failure and hypertension, appear to have increased rates of hip bone loss than men who are not taking this medication, according to a report in the April 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Elderly patients who use antipsychotic drugs have a 60 percent increased risk of developing pneumonia compared to non-users. This risk is highest in the first week following prescription and decreases gradually thereafter. These findings are published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

For elderly and disabled rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers, the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA) brought the promise of better disease management with “biologic” drugs. Prior to its passage in 2006, Medicare covered only one of the tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) inhibitors, the infusion drug infliximab, also known by its brand name, Remicade.

Use of medications that are linked to increased risk of falls in the elderly can be reduced through careful review of patient files in the Electronic Health Record, new Geisinger research shows.